> > But I have to ask: how realistic is the platform on which you test or > develop, if it is as you describe? Because I would deem it criminal > insanity to develop code on a stressed multi-instance box but yet expect > it to perform anywhere remotely like it would do in production on a > single-instance humungously-resourced box. Unless you are shipping system > statistics back and forth, that is. Meaning that there's a risk of > developing code that works brilliantly in one environment, only to have it > perform like crud in the production environment for which it was intended.>

I think this is a necessary risk once you get to a certain size. It
is nearly impossible to duplicate such a production environment
realistically. All you can do is approximate with some explain plans
and outlines and then watch it real closely. Then change the
inevitable screwy hints.